Basho_06.jpg

Shroud-like veils of falling water on the Abukuma River evoke the ghostly presence of past poets whose words kept Basho company on the rugged trail. Hoping to “feel the truth of old poems,” Basho plotted his route to pass sites known as uta-makura, or poetic pillows: shrines, mountaintops, cherry-tree groves, and other spots memorably described by other writers. Many of the haiku in his book allude to these earlier verses—Basho’s way of adding layers of mood and meaning to the landscape he evoked.